During a radiological procedure, a contrast medium may be administered to provide improved imaging of anatomical features in a patient. A physician may typically order a specific amount of contrast medium deemed necessary to view these anatomical features. Since the contrast medium may be expensive, it may be important to make sure that the complete dose is administered and that little or no waste is generated. In addition, the contrast medium may need to be pushed to a region of interest or diluted to avoid too much contrast in a region of interest.
Previous attempts to ensure complete contrast medium administration, pushing to a region of interest, and/or dilution involved injecting a flushing material, such as saline solution and/or the like, immediately after the contrast medium in order to flush the administration tube of all residual contrast medium, push the contrast to a region of interest, or dilute the contrast. In some radiological procedures, this may be completed by means of an automated device. However, in some radiological procedures, a manual device may be used for various reasons, such as, for example, an automated device is not available or the procedure does not require the level of delivery control that can be afforded by an automated device. However, the manual device currently used in the art lacks an ability to control delivery in a manner similar to an automated device, thus leading to waste of contrast medium, improperly delivered contrast medium, and/or improperly diluted contrast medium.
Furthermore, it may be necessary to assure that the access vein of the patient remains open when the contrast medium is not actively being delivered. For some patients with diseased vasculature, the vein may collapse when not being actively supplied by contrast medium. In such a condition, some amount of fluid, such as saline solution and/or the like, may be delivered to the vein to keep the vein open (“KVO”).